We have an opening for a postdoctoral fellow to elucidate the molecular basis of wound healing and inflammatory skin diseases. Research projects include the investigation of the mobilization and proliferation of resident stem cells in the skin, recruitment and activation of circulating immune cells, and tissue remodeling at the wound site. These studies will take advantage of a mouse model with the conditional deletion of epidermal caspase-8 which we recently demonstrated is capable of recapitulating a complete wound healing response (Nature 2009). Interestingly, elevated expression of this protein may be the cause of impaired wound healing in diabetics and constitutively low levels of caspase-8 elicits a phenotype common to many inflammatory diseases. Thus there is an emphasis on translating our findings in this mouse model to determine how they impact human diseases.
This research program is part of a larger interest in the lab using the skin and hair as a model system to study organogenesis and tissue regeneration/repair. Our work is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, the Dermatology Foundation and others. The laboratory is located on the campus of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in La Jolla, California and we have fruitful collaborations with colleagues in various departments at UCSD and at neighboring biomedical research institutes such as the Scripps Research Institute. A CV and letter of interest from individuals with a Ph.D. can be sent to Professor Colin Jamora at cjamora@biomail.ucsd.edu. Prior experience working with mice is preferable, but the main criteria for selecting the candidate are outstanding technical and analytical skills, enthusiasm for learning and the dedication to carry a project through to completion resulting in an important publication.